Authentic Humility

This morning, Fr. Martin Ip delivered a beautiful sermon with an instructive story about true humility. I will try my best to translate his story into English. In this way, many more people, English speaking people in particular, will be able to benefit from it.

The story took place in ancient China. A mandarin was posted in a county for a number of years and he had earned praises from all the people living there. Many would say that he was truly a "parents-like official", a mandarin who looked after his people like his children. People there could quote many examples.
One day, he was travelling on the main street of the county in a sedan carried by two coolies. The sedan suddenly stopped because one of the wheels of an ox-drawn cart in front was caught in a muddy depression on the street. The wheel refused to let loose despite the effort of two bystanders who tried to help. Seeing this, the mandarin ordered the two coolies to join the effort. Still, there was no progress. The mandarin came out of the sedan, rolled up his sleeves and joined the pulling. At last, the wheel was free and all the bystanders gave the mud-stained mandarin a huge round of applause. He disregarded his silk mantle and went all the way out to clear up the mess. He was truly a "parents-like official".
The other day, the mandarin was riding a horse along the river. He spotted an old man looking around. The mandarin understood and descended from his horse, put the old man on his animal, waded and led the horse across the river. When they reached the opposite bank, all the bystanders put their thumbs up. The mandarin threw away his dignity to help an old man cross the river. He was really humble.
Some time later, the Emperor heard about all these and summoned the mandarin into the palace. Everybody congratulated the mandarin, expecting to see him rewarded and promoted. Instead, the mandarin was demoted to the far off border to be a sentry. Why?
The Emperor decreed that road maintenance and bridge building were the duties of a mandarin. He failed to discharge his duties properly, thus causing so much inconvenience but earning a lot of praises for himself. He should be demoted. How wise the Emperor was!
Jesus said, "whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." (Matthew 23:12)
To be authentic, humility should never be self-directed, should not be practised for the sake of earning praises from the others. Otherwise, this kind of humility is self-defeating.

Cultural differences make evangelization to Chinese difficult. Genesis 2:24a is one such example.
Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh (Genesis 2:24).
Jesus told a man to abandon his parents to join a woman. For a Chinese, this is blatant impiety towards one's parents. If this verse is not handled sensibly, many a Chinese refuses to become a Christian. Similar examples can be found in the gospel reading today. Many Protestants like to quote this to attack the reverence Catholics pay to the clergy, calling them Pope (Papa), godfather and Holy Father etc., not knowing that such an attack also drives many Chinese away as well.
But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brethren.
And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.
Neither be called masters, for you have one master, the Christ (Matthew 24:8-10).

As I have mentioned before, Heaven, Earth, Emperor, Parents and Teachers are the five elements that make up what we are. We are taught to pay respect, reverence and piety to them. Apprentices/Disciples call their masters "Teacher-Father 師父". We can always hear on their lips "Being our teacher of just one day is our teacher for life 一日為師，終身為師." If we learn other skills from other teachers, we are guilty of "cheating our teachers and annihilating our ancestors 欺師滅祖" etc.
There were two archer stories in Mencius, one of the Four-Book which was a compulsory syllabus for all students. In the first story, a disciple murdered his master because he thought that he had learned all his master's skills. His master was the only person better than him on earth. The second story was told to show that the first master was guilty for his own demise because he had not chosen his disciples carefully. In the second story, an archer was sent to capture his enemy who happened to be the teacher of his teacher. On that day, his grand-teacher was sick and could not take up his bow. The archer was in a dilemma. On one hand, he did not want to harm his grand-teacher with the skill he passed on to him. On the other hand, he was performing the king's task and had to discharge his mission faithfully. In the end, the archer took four arrows, removed the heads, shot and hit his grand-teacher. Then the archer turned around and left. His grand-teacher was unharmed. Mencius might be guilty of idealizing the incident because there was an independent report in 左傳‧襄公十四年 that the archer pierced the arm of his grand-teacher with his arrow. No matter what, the second story surely sank deeply into the minds of all students. The lesson is: Thou shalt not betray thy teacher.
逢蒙學射於羿，盡羿之道，思天下惟羿為愈己，於是殺羿。孟子曰：「是亦羿有罪焉。」公明儀曰：「宜若無罪焉？」曰：「薄乎雲爾，惡得無罪？鄭人使子濯孺子侵衛，衛使庾公之斯追之。子濯孺子曰：『今日我疾作，不可以執弓，吾死矣夫！』問其仆曰：『追我者誰也？』其仆曰：『庾公之斯也。』曰：『吾生矣。』其仆曰：『庾公之斯，衛之善射者也，夫子曰「吾生」，何謂也？』曰：『庾公之斯學射於尹公之他，尹公之他學射於我。夫尹公之他，端人也，其取友必端矣。』庾公之斯至，曰：『夫子何為不執弓？』曰：『今日我疾作，不可以執弓。』曰：『小人學射於尹公之他，尹公之他學射於夫子。我不忍以夫子之道，反害夫子。雖然，今日之事，君事也，我不敢廢。』抽矢叩輪，去其金、發乘矢而後反。」【孟子‧離婁下】

Of course, it is understandable for Christians to respect Christ as their sole teacher and master. So do Chinese. But unfortunately, before they follow Christ, they have already followed some other teachers who have taught them to read, to write and to live like a Chinese. So, how can we abandon them and do not call them rabbi or teacher! Chinese respect Confucius for political reasons and Chinese are also very capable of deity-making. Therefore, it is unimaginable for them to call Confucius their brother! Chinese are also very skillful in building their social networks. In doing so, they do not hesitate to call the benefactors/seniors by various father-titles such as 仲父、義父、乾爹、契爺 etc. Neither do they hesitate to add one more father and call the Father of Jesus their Heavenly Father.
Building bridges is not the exclusive duty of mandarins. Chinese Christians also have the duty to build bridges meshing Chinese culture and Christianity. To save mankind, the Son of God took human flesh and incarnated. To be authentic followers of Christ, we should also put our efforts in incarnating the messages of the Gospel in the Chinese soil, divinizing the Chinese culture rather than arrogantly condemning it.

Dear Lord, in You we find our true humanity. May we lead an authentically humble life. Amen.